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Midwest Region

2014 Midwest Regional Meeting

April 4–5, 2014
Ohio Northern University
Ada, Ohio

Call for Papers

Submission Deadline: January 7, 2014 Extended to January 10, 2014

The Midwest Region invites research presentation proposals related to the academic study of religion from a variety of disciplinary perspectives and encompassing a wide range of religious and cultural phenomena. Accepted proposals will be presented at the Midwest Region’s Annual Meeting, held on the campus of Ohio Northern University on April 4–5, 2014.

Authors may submit 250–450 word proposals for individual papers or for panels of papers. Please submit your proposal using the online submission system by January 7, 2014 Extended to January 10, 2014 (link will be available on the Midwest Region’s website). If you have any questions about whether your proposal is appropriate for a particular section, please contact that section’s chair. If you feel your proposal does not fit into any of our current sections, you may submit it to the Special Topics Section.

Proposal submissions will only be accepted online. Please observe these restrictions:

You may submit up to two different proposals to a single section.

You may submit up to two different proposals to two different sections.

You may not submit the same proposal to two different sections.

Please indicate if religious observances will make a Friday afternoon panel inappropriate for your participation.

Notice of acceptance/rejection will be sent out by the first week of February 2014.

Sections and Section Chairs

Anthropology and Sociology of Religion

This section solicits proposals for papers and panels that treat religion from anthropological or sociological perspectives. Proposals can approach the study of religion as a social institution in relationship to other social institutions and/or belief systems of a given culture. Proposals can also examine cross-cultural comparisons of formal and informal expressions of religion. This session will be newly formed for the 2014 MAAR meeting.

We are currently seeking a chair of this section.

Ecology and Science in the Study of Religion

This section solicits proposals for papers and panels that explore the interrelationships between religion and all aspects of the natural world (understood as nature, cosmos, creation, environment, ecology, etc.). The section encompasses subject matters and theoretical perspectives generally associated with the scholarly subfields of religion and ecology, religion and science, and religion and animals. Papers and panels may have a theological orientation or be identified as work in the academic study of religion.

This section solicits proposals for papers and panels dealing with ethical theory, applied ethics, moral theology, and other topics related to religion and morality, as well as papers dealing broadly with the philosophy of religion, such as questions of religious ontology, metaphysics, and epistemology.

This section solicits proposals for papers and panels that explore the intersections of religion, gender, and sexuality and how these meeting points create new places of exploration into the religious experiences of human beings as gendered and sexed beings. Proposals addressing the intersectionality of race, class, and gender/sexuality and feminist approaches to the study of religion are especially encouraged.

This section solicits proposals for papers and panels that analyze any area of Christianity from academic, historical, and social scientific perspectives. Proposals for papers that adopt theological, constructive, confessional, or faith-based perspectives should be submitted to either the Theology or the Ethics and Philosophy of Religion Sections.

This section solicits proposals for papers and panels focusing on any aspect of the Islamic tradition, including its texts, history, or practices. Proposals may focus on any time period and be from any disciplinary approach, so long as the topic is capable of engaging scholars of Islam.

This section solicits proposals for papers and panels that examine the intersection of religion and the arts, with a focus on literature (broadly defined to include fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and dramatic works), as well as sacred texts from global traditions. The call also extends to papers and panels that address the connections between religion, sacred and/or secular literature, and the arts, including film studies.

This section solicits proposals for papers and panels that explore the importance of materiality and sensory cultures as they are manifested in and encountered by religion and spirituality. This section welcomes submissions with an interest in religious art and iconography, embodiment, the visual arts, music and aural cultures, sensory encounters, architecture, and photography, with an emphasis on vernacular manifestations. This session will be newly formed for the 2014 MAAR meeting.

We are currently seeking a chair of this section.

Religion and American Culture

Solicits proposals for papers and panels exploring social, cultural, and historical aspects of religion in the Americas, and of the United States in particular. Studies of religious traditions or ideas that are not specifically situated in, or related to, their manifestations in this geographical context are not accepted.

This section solicits proposals for papers covering textual, ethnographic, or other historical and cultural studies of the religious traditions of South, Southeast, and East Asia, consisting primarily of (but not necessarily limited to) Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism.

This section solicits proposals broadly inclusive of Judaism and Jewish tradition. Panels and proposals may address textual studies, history concerning any time period from the ancient to the modern, theology, sociology, or anthropology of Jewish subjects.

This section solicits proposals for papers and panels on teaching practices (syllabi, assignments, classroom activities), the use of innovative pedagogies, challenges relevant to teaching particular courses, advising and mentoring, or reflections on (the joys and challenges of) teaching in our field.

Solicits proposals for papers and panels in all areas of theology—broadly defined as critical reflections on the transcendent, the human relationship with the divine, and all related questions and issues.

Specifically designed for undergraduate students in the field of religious studies who wish to broaden their academic experience by presenting their research at a formal conference, this section solicits proposals for papers by undergraduate students on any topic concerning religion.